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Bill Hanifin
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An opportunity in Millennial Marketing
The financial health of Generation Y may be at risk. Research hints that their adoption of sound financial habits is minimal and that as many as 24% of the group between 18 and 30 may be living beyond their means. Though parents have tried to make a positive influence, Millennials report that they have been taught “beliefs but not behaviors” by their elders. In other words, they have been told “what” to do without specific instruction on “how” to do it.
The opportunity for financial service providers, credit card issuers and others is to fill the gap, positioning themselves as trusted advisors for this populous and potential laden group.
Like staring at the scale and realizing that you have to make that first trip to the gym to lose some weight, helping Gen Y reach solid financial ground won’t happen overnight. While their Boomer parents actually watched music videos on MTV, this generation was immersed in shows like “Entourage”, “MTV Cribs”, “My Super Sweet 16” and more. How ironic that a lot of reality TV fails to depict the actual reality of how most people live.
It’s a known characteristic of the Millennial generation that they are totally immersed and always plugged in to technology. It’s reported that around 42% make purchase decisions based on recommendations from friends. Amongst all the buzz however, they rarely compare notes with their friends on finances.
Some quotes from a Harris Interactive study hone in on Gen Y outlooks regarding money and banks:
- “I just can’t socialize and save” – Social priorities rank higher than their financial health
- “When I settle down, I’ll start saving” – Despite the wisdom of the “time value of money” equation advocated by most financial pundits, Gen Y is like the rest of us in procrastinating about the future
Millennials tend to view banks as serving up mostly checking and savings accounts and only caring about people with money. They regard writing paper checks as a nostalgic payment medium and are more inclined to adopt plastic and virtual payment means including debit cards and Pay Pal.
Some banks are realizing the opportunity to meet Generation Y right where they are and are creating products suited to their lifestyle and preferences. Wells Fargo, Bank of America, PNC Bank, and Bank Atlantic are all making efforts to engage with the group.
I’ll cover several specific examples in a future post, but for now, think of Marketing to Millennials as less push and shouting and more advice and suggestion. It have never been more important to create trust as the foundation for a relationship with a consumer group than with the Millennials. If you wish to keep their attention for longer than it takes to post to Twitter, you might have to rethink traditional methods to reach this group.
